Life-guard.



L. M. MAXHAM.

LIFE GUARD.

Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

, W M I m a I l W M i. W n a 3 m aw w 3 I W n HM W nllu u d 1 w Q W w @T L Q i 3 APPLICATION FILED lULY23. 19H. 11.1%,542.

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. LIFE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. M1, 1915.

Application filed July 23, 1914. Serial No. 852,621. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LownLL Mason MAX- HAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Gruards, of which the following is a full, clear: and exact descriptlon.

This invention is in the line of devlces for keeping pedestrians from'being caught beneath the wheels of a street car or other self-propelled vehicle, and has for its ob ect the construction of a fender or cradle which can be made to descend from a suitably elevated position on the conveyance to the roadway beneath, and to be flatly extended thereon, in order not only better to receive upon it any object lying or falling upon the road, but to retain the same thereon until the conveyance can be brought to a stop.

Another ob ect of the invention is the con struction of a fender of the drop-type which shall be in minimum danger of being caught and injured by stones or other fixed obstructions in the roadway,

In carrying out my invention I prefer to support the fender cradle with means for keeping it ina horizontal position in both its elevated and lowered positions.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspec tive view of a portion of the front end of a car or other conveyance having my fender applied thereto, parts of said car being broken away and in section. Fig. 2 is a side sectional elevation of said car showing the fender in its lowered position.

The reference numeral 1 designates the floor of the front end of a street car, and 2 the fender cradle. This cradle preferably consists of sheet metal strips suitably secured together, as by rivets, and supported by side bars 3, the rear ends of which are curved upward and forward. These elevated ends t of said side bars are bolted or riveted to a cross bar 5 whose ends are bent vertically upward to compose uprights 6.

Standards 7 are fastened at their upper ends to a plank 9 bolted to the under surface of the car sills, and strengthened by braces 10. A rocker bar 11 has its rear wardly bent ends or arms 12 pivoted at 13 to said standards 7, and the extremity of each of said arms is pivoted at 14 to the upper end of an upright 6. A bar 15 pivoted to the lower end of a standard 7 at 16,,and also to an uprightG at 17, at eachside of the fender, serves to maintain the parallelism of the fender at different heights.

A notched bar 20 pivoted at its lower end to the rocker bar 11, and rising through an opening in the car floor, serves by the engagement of its notches 21 with a plate or detent 22 to hold. the fender normally elevated; one notch retaining the fender in its usual elevated position, and the other notch enabling it to beheld at a higher point. for

safely clearing the shifting tables in the car barn. A spring 23 retains the said bar 20 in its engagement with the plate 22, and also throws it into such engagement. The motorman, by pressing his foot down upon the top end of said bar, can elevate and reset the fender scoop without moving from his post.

A spring 24: attached to the rocker bar serves to make the fender descend more quickly to the roadway the instant the bar 20 has been swung forward to disengage it from the plate 22. Consequently, the one member 20 provides both a lock trip and a reset device, and the instant the motorman sees an object on the track, whether human being or animal, which he fears may not get out of the way soon enough, he simply kicks forward against the bar 20, and so causes the fender scoop to descend to the roadway. If the object fails to get off the track in time, or falls to the ground, the scoop takes it up and carries it until the car can be brought to astop. If the person or animal gets out of the way, the motorman at once presses down upon the operating member or bar 20, elevates the fender scoop to Its normal position, and looks it there by the engagement of a notch with'the plate 22. In case the car is to be transferred from one track to another in the car barn by means of a shifting table, the operating bar 20 is given a further depression to raise the scoop to a greater height, and fixes it in such position by catching the higher notch on said plate 22.

The bar 20 is preferably pivoted to the rocker bar 11 through the medium of an elbow 25 attached, as by rivets, to the front face of said rocker bar. This both gives a good pivotal surface for the bar 20, and at the same time suitably lengthens the leverage of the rocker bar.

To keep small objects from sliding over past the fender cradle or scoop, each slat or strip 26 is given an upward bend 27 at llO its rear end and the cross strip 29, to which the rear portion of each slat 26 is fastened,

is also given anupward bend 30 at each end. To provide room for the drawbar used by many cars, the cross bar 5 is centrally arched to bring it above the level of such drawbar.

By having the scoop rest flat upon the ground, it is not only more sure in its action of picking up an object, but in retaining the same thereon. Further, fenders which are pivotallysupported at their rear and present their front edges at an angle to the ground, arejfar more liable to catch upon any ele vated paving stone and to be injured than'is my fender when riding flat on the roadway.

By having the fender supports wholly at the front end of the car, there is no interference with the wheels and the snow scrapers.

The upwardly and forwardly curved sections of the side bars of the fender scoop, taken in conjunction with the upwardly curved rear ends of'the scoop floor slats, constitute in effect what I term a hood, so that I speak of the fender as having a hooded scoop. V

What I claim is 1. A fender comprising a horizontal scoop having side bars curved upward and for ward,'a cross bar fixed to the upper ends of said side bars, uprights rigid with the ends of said cross bar, standards, a rocker bar having rearwardly bent arms pivoted both to said standards and to said uprights, and

cross bar having ends bent vertically upward and pivoted to the ends of said side arms, bars parallel with and below the side arms, said bars being pivoted to said standards and t0 the upwardly bent portions of said cross bar, a member connected with the rocker bar, a notched bar pivoted to said fixed member and rising therefrom, a detent adapted to engage a notch in said bar, and tension means holding said notched bar and detent in looking engagement, thereby controlling the operation of said mechanism in vertically raising and lowering said appliance to travel level on the surface of the road.

3. The combination with a power vehicle, of an appliance designed to be raised and lowered and to travel level on the surface of the road, and mechanism adapted to support and operate said appliance, said mechanism comprising standards depending from the vehicle, a rocker bar having members connected therewith to form side arms pivoted to said standards, a cross bar having members projecting vertically upward from its ends and pivoted to the ends of said side arms, a bar pivoted to each standard below and parallel with the side arms, and also pivoted to the upwardly projecting members, a member connected with the rocker bar, a notched bar pivoted to the last men tioned member and rising therefrom, a detent adapted to engage a notch in said notched bar, and tension means holding said notched bar and deterit in looking engagement, thereby controlling the operation of said mechanism in the vertical raising and dropping of said appliance and its level travel on the surface of the road.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of July, 1914.

LOIVELL MASON MAXHAM.

Witnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, JOSEPH W. Downs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

